When a soft tissue, or a portion of a tissue, such as muscle, ligament, or cartilage, tears, surgery to repair the detached soft tissue is often required. The goal of such surgery is to suture the torn portion of the tissue to thereby repair the tear and reconstitute the tissue back to its original status. Traditionally, repair was accomplished by sewing the tissue together with two needles and a suture, then tying knots to secure the suture within the tissue. To simplify the wound closure procedure and to improve fixation, various types of suture anchors have been developed, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,153,312 B1 to Torrie et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,972,027 B2 to Fallin et al.
Several devices are also known for the delivery of suture anchors. Both Fallin et al. and Torrie et al. disclose delivery devices in which two or more suture anchors are delivered via a single needle and single pusher mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 7,905,904 to Stone et al. discloses a delivery device having separate needles and pushers for delivering each of two implants.
Difficulty often arises when preparing the suture anchors for a surgical procedure. The anchors themselves are very small in size and are therefore cumbersome to handle, yet must be loaded in a specific orientation on the delivery device. In addition, properly threading the suture through the small anchors requires significant dexterity. On top of this, it is critical that all of these tasks be completed without causing knots or tangles in the suture, which would interfere with the proper implantation of the anchors. What's more, if the suture, anchors, and delivery device are all supplied separately, the surgeon must take time to find and retrieve each item individually to prepare for the surgical procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,084 to Hart discloses a surgical fastening system for repairing tissue, including a surgical fastener and an installation tool for deploying the fastener. The surgical fastener may be removably attached to a grip for aiding in manipulation of the fastener during manufacture. The surgical fastener and grip may be packaged in a holder at the time of manufacture. The holder includes a plurality of recesses and openings for receiving the fastener and grip. An opening is also provided in the holder for permitting the installation tool to enter the holder and to engage, and then withdraw, the surgical fastener from the holder. (See Col. 9, II. 39-59). However, as the surgical fasteners disclosed in Hart et al. do not employ sutures, the holder does not provide a means for securing a length of suture thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,300 to Li discloses a cartridge for holding a generally cylindrical surgical fastener in position for ease of handling. The cartridge includes a holder with a gripping portion for the user to grasp, a surface for fixing the surgical fastener in position on the holder and a threading loop extending from the holder for extending through an aperture in the surgical fastener. The cartridge is generally E-shaped with two recesses and three prongs, two of which have cup-shaped portions for receiving suture anchor. The threading loop is provided as a looped spring wire having two ends which are secured in a region on the cartridge. In use, the surgeon threads a suture through the loop. When the suture anchor is then removed from the cartridge, a loop of the suture will then be threaded through the bore in the anchor. (See FIG. 7). The suture anchor can then be engaged with an insertion tool for implanting the threaded anchor into a bone. The cartridge of Li, however, does not have a means for securing a portion of the suture thereon.
What is desired, therefore, is a device, such as a cartridge, for releasably holding at least one suture anchor and a suture threaded therethrough in a manner to be easily loaded onto a delivery device and in such a way that any extra length of suture can be secured on the cartridge and prevented from tangling. Further, what is desired is a kit, including a cartridge releasably holding at least one suture anchor preloaded with a suture.